So, last Friday I received the hybrid pressure washer, and eagerly assembled it. At first everything seemed fine, but then I noticed something strange. The pressure washer pump was resting on top of the detergent tank filler cap, and when I inspected it the entire motor/pump assembly was completely loose inside the housing. It could be moved up and down and rotated freely along its horizontal axis. Now, had I purchased this from Lowe's as I normally do with 60 volt tools, I would have returned it straight away for a refund. However, I purchased this online directly from Greenworks, and didn't want to deal with them as I know from past experience that it would be a nightmare. I decided to take a chance and disassemble it to see if I could fix it myself, and possibly screw myself out of what I had paid for it.
It took awhile to figure out how to open it up. Normally, there would be a top half of the housing that would be removed with all the parts laying in the bottom, but this proved to be just the opposite. I had to first detach the entire assembly from the cart frame, and then flip it over to remove the bottom half of the housing, which is held in place by nine screws that attach it to the top half. Once removed, it was apparent that all components such as the motor/pump assembly and the switch sit in the top half, and are held in place entirely by the bottom half clamping them against the top half. Everything has to be placed very precisely, otherwise it simply won't go together correctly. Also, I noticed that there was some sort of cover or shroud over the motor that was completely loose at the rear where the motor fan resides, a wire from the motor to the PCB was badly mashed with cut insulation and exposed conductor and there were two loose seals of some sort just lying in the cavity. I moved the shroud towards the pump end until it became tight, covered the damaged wire with electrical tape, and through a process of trial and error figured out exactly how the motor/pump assembly needed to be located within the top housing section. As to the mysterious seals, I later figured out that one of these is meant to be placed on the switch shaft on the outside of the housing underneath the switch knob to prevent water entry. So, basically the assembly line worker did an incompetent job and there was no QC done afterwards to intercept it before it was packaged.
While I had the housings apart, I decided to remove the AC power cord, since I will only use this pressure washer in 60 Vdc mode, given that I have several other more powerful corded electric pressure washers. I also removed the no longer needed power cord hook to further reduce the clutter. I then reassembled the housing, installed the switch seal and knob, and ran the motor briefly with two batteries installed to make sure it was operational before mounting the assembly back on the cart frame. Finally, I amazingly found a plastic plug for the hole in the housing vacated by the removed power cord that was a perfect fit. Even the diameter of the plug's head was the same as the flat on the housing, and the color was the same !
Next morning, I tried it out on my car using the soap tip with some Karcher vehicle wash, 25 degree and 40 degree tips, and then used the turbo nozzle on some driveway concrete. I connected it to my house water supply with a garden hose rather than use the siphon kit. The siphon kit includes a priming valve, which is installed between the pressure washer pump outlet and the pressure hose. Greenworks claims in the description on their website that the pressure washer generates 1550 psi at 1.1 GPM in 60 volt cordless mode, however, the label on the washer housing, Operator Manual and box all state that it is only 1500 psi at 1.0 GPM. Regardless, it is sufficient to clean a car and pavement.
Now for the bad news. Two batteries are required for operation, and I used 50% of two 6 Ah batteries in about 10 minutes. This means that even with the largest capacity batteries, maximum runtime is only about 20 minutes. This is sufficient runtime to complete small jobs such as washing a car or cleaning a deck, but don't expect to clean your siding or a large fence.
Quality control issues aside, I am satisfied with this new hybrid pressure washer, and think it is the first practical cordless unit on the market.
